A bungling burglar with a long string of convictions for break-ins was snared on his latest crime after leaving his mobile phone at the scene.

Leon Jacques ransacked the house of a widower, stealing jewellery that belonged to the victim’s late wife, Derby Crown Court was told.

He also kicked a safe free of its mountings, taking it and the £3,200 which was inside.

But the 29-year-old father-of-two dropped his phone in the bedroom of the house and police analysis was able to link it to Jacques, who the court was told had five previous convictions for burgling houses.

Jailing Jacques for 39 months for his latest offence, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “Mr Jacques, you are no stranger to the courts and it is sad to see you wasting your life away burgling people’s homes and causing them such extreme distress.

“You took jewellery that belonged to the victim’s late wife, something that can’t be replaced and which caused him considerable distress.

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“It means nothing to you but everything to him and you have taken it away from him.

“I believe there was a degree of planning because you were able to identify that the property was unoccupied and you were able to deal with a safe that was in a cupboard and screwed down to the floor.”

Serial burglar Leon Jacques (Image: Derbyshire Police)

Andrew Tanser, prosecuting, said the break-in took place on February 17 when the victim had gone away for a night on business.

He said his son called the following day to tell him the house had been broken into and, when the victim got home, he saw the patio doors had been smashed and the house was ransacked.